


parallel

by tanyart



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Gen, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2017-12-21 14:45:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/901512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanyart/pseuds/tanyart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean has been having nightmares, and Eren has been having them long before him.  (Spoilers for Giant Forest mission, hints of Jean->Eren)</p>
            </blockquote>





	parallel

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Stel; Nightmares and Jean mother-henning.

They’ve all had nightmares, some earlier than others.  Jean gets his due three days after the battle for Trost, waking up one morning with the lingering images of half his own body bitten off.   The nightmares only happen a few times after, which is better than what most people had to go through.  At worst, Jean could have not been dreaming at all.  So maybe he’s a little lucky, in that sense.   
  
It comes again months later.  Not exactly like clockwork, but when Jean blinks awake in cold sweat it only takes a dull moment to convince himself that the numbness he feels on his right arm is only from sleeping on it wrong.  It’s the same dream, now with the inexplicable addition of lying helpless in a horse drawn cart, taking him away to have his body burned.     
  
Jean sits up on his elbows, wincing as his arm twitches from a pain like pins and needles.  Already the nightmare is fading from his memory, leaving him faintly annoyed with himself without knowing exactly why.   
  
The soldiers’ barracks are roomier than what he had gotten as a trainee, and Jean’s never had a real problem with his new allotments until now.  Lamplight from outside his window tells him that it is not yet morning, but he’s too restless to go back to sleep.  There are no more drill instructors to keep him from getting up anymore.  The sergeant on duty turns a blind eye on nights like these.  Jean leaves the barracks as quietly as he can.   
  
He has taken the habit of keeping a flask of liquor stashed away – something he has seen some of the older soldiers do.  There is always a kettle over a fire in the kitchens, so he pours himself a little bit of the liquor in a cup and waters it down to almost nothing.  It’s not the warm milk his mother used to give, but he can pretend for once that a simple drink would make all his problems go away. The taste of it is awful, but at least the steaming cup keeps his hands warm when he steps outside.   
  
The sky is dark and starless.  A touch of humidity in the air tells Jean that it may rain soon, but he tries not to think about what it will mean for the horses or for travel.  Not until morning.     
  
He’s not exactly surprised to find Eren up and awake, sitting on the edge of an empty water trough.  After all, Eren has had the nightmares even before training.  A single guard stands nearby, idly watching with no real worry; the Military Police are still insistent on a guard, which, of course, is still stupid, and even the guard knows it.   
  
The movement of his approach catches Eren’s attention.  He turns to Jean, looking all levels of terrible and tired, like he hasn’t slept for days despite all efforts.  Jean doesn’t know for sure if Eren has even _tried_ to sleep since he doesn’t stay in the barracks with the rest of them, but Jean has seen him suffer from nightmares before, back when there were young.     
  
“What do you want, Jean?”   
  
Three days ago, Eren had been in the back of a cart, lying on his back with his shoulders shaking and arm shielding his eyes.  Jean isn’t privy to the details, but no amount of secrecy in the legion could hide the fact that not a single one of the Special Ops squad came back from the forest.  
  
Jean looks down at his cup.  Eren has been remembering their deaths, and Jean remembers telling everyone that he wouldn’t.   
  
“I was just walking around,” he replies.  He stands next to Eren, making it a point to peer at his face.  “You look like shit.”   
  
Despite the lack of sleep, Eren doesn’t miss a beat.  “You’re one to talk.”   
  
“At least _I’m_ getting enough rest.  Don’t you have a bedtime?” Jean gestures to the guard and Eren frowns.  
  
 “I don’t think so,” he says, and actually _looks_ at the guard to make sure, but the guard only shrugs.   
  
Jean’s fingers tighten around the cup.  “You’re keeping the poor lady up.  Why don’t you just go to bed?”   
  
“Well, why don’t you?” Eren snaps, a sleep-deprived comeback for the ages.   
  
“Really?  I don’t keep anyone else up by needing an escort everywhere I go,” he says, and in a fit of—also sleep-deprived— inspiration, he shoves the cup into Eren’s hands.  “Drink it and get your ass to bed.”   
  
Eren looks down, puzzled, and stares.  “What is it?” He laughs in disbelief.  “Hot milk and honey?”   
  
Unrelated to _anything_ at all, Jean feels his face heat up.  “What are you, five?  Of course it isn’t.”   
  
To his exasperation, Eren sniffs the cup.  “It’s not… strong, is it?” he asks with an incredible amount of suspicion, but he takes a sip before Jean can answer.  He makes a displeased face.  “This is disgusting.”   
  
But Eren takes another sip, and Jean catches a hint of a smile before the cup obscures it.     
  
Between the two of them, the terrible drink gets finished off quickly.  Jean still doesn’t feel all that ready to go back to the barracks, but Eren hands him back the cup, empty.  
  
“Thanks,” he says, standing.  He doesn’t look any better in Jean’s opinion, but he raises a hand to hide a yawn behind it, so maybe Jean is wrong.   
  
“Just get some rest.”   
  
Eren nods and nudges Jean with a shoulder before the guard takes him away.  “You too.”   
  
The touch sends a tingling sensation down Jean’s right arm, and Jean thinks he really can’t blame that on sleeping on it wrong this time.     
  
He rubs his arm, muttering, and heads back to the barracks.


End file.
